Michele L. Norris (English pronunciation: /ˈmiːʃɛl ˈnɔrɪs/ MEE-shel NOR-iss; born September 7, 1961) is an American radio journalist and current host of the National Public Radio (NPR) evening news program All Things Considered since December 9, 2002. She is the first African American female host for NPR.

Norris was born in Minnesota to Betty and Belvin Norris Jr. She attended Washburn High School in Minneapolis, and went on to attend the University of Wisconsin–Madison where she studied electrical engineering, and later the University of Minnesota where she received an honorary degree in journalism in 2005.

Norris was a correspondent for ABC News from 1993 to 2002. She wrote for The Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, and the Los Angeles Times. In 1990, while at The Washington Post, Norris received the Livingston Award for articles she wrote about the life of a six-year-old boy who lived with a crack-addicted mother in a crack house. In 2002, Norris won an Emmy Award. In 2009 the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) awarded Norris its Journalist of the Year award.

Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter and occasional actress. Raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, Swift moved to Nashville, Tennessee at the age of fourteen to pursue a career in country music. She signed to the independent label Big Machine Records and became the youngest songwriter ever hired by the Sony/ATV Music publishing house. The release of Swift's self-titled debut album in 2006 established her as a country music star. "Our Song", her third single, made her the youngest sole writer and singer of a number one song on the country chart. She received a Best New Artist nomination at the 50th Grammy Awards.

Swift's second album, Fearless, was released in late 2008. Buoyed by the chart success of the singles "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me", Fearless attracted a crossover audience and became the top-selling album of 2009. The record won four Grammy Awards, with Swift becoming the youngest ever Album of the Year winner. Fearless also received Album of the Year plaudits at the American Music Awards, Academy of Country Music Awards and Country Music Association Awards, making it the most awarded album in country music history. In 2010, Swift released her third album, Speak Now, which sold over one million copies in its first week. She then embarked on the 111-date Speak Now World Tour, which was attended by over 1.6 million fans and has become one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time. The album's third single, "Mean", won two Grammy Awards for Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance. Swift is currently recording her fourth studio album, due for release in the fall of 2012.

Michelle Suzanne Claire “Chuck” Norris MC, RAMC is a British lance corporal and medic noted for heroism in the 2003 Iraq conflict.

Norris was born at Stourbridge, West Midlands, England.

On 11 June 2006, whilst a private serving as a Medical Orderly attached to the 1st Battalion Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment, Norris (then aged 19) jumped out of her Warrior Patrol vehicle and climbed up the side of it to rescue the vehicle commander, Colour Sergeant Ian Page, who had been shot in the mouth, all while being heavily fired upon by snipers at night. One bullet hit her rucksack as she climbed the vehicle. She then helped drag the sergeant back into the vehicle while still being fired upon. Her commanding officer recommended that she receive a medal for her bravery, and the award of the Military Cross was gazetted on 15 December 2006. She is the first woman to be awarded that decoration. She received the decoration from Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on 21 March 2007.

Norris and Page were evacuated by a British Lynx helicopter, which was being flown by Major William Chesarek USMC (then a Captain) as the result of an officer exchange programme. He was subsequently awarded the British Distinguished Flying Cross as a result of his actions on this occasion, receiving the award at the same time Norris received her Military Cross.

Colin Luther Powell ( /ˈkoʊlɨn/; born April 5, 1937) is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State, serving under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African American to serve in that position. During his military career, Powell also served as National Security Advisor (1987–1989), as Commander of the U.S. Army Forces Command (1989) and as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989–1993), holding the latter position during the Gulf War. He was the first, and so far the only, African American to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Colin Luther Powell was born on April 5, 1937 in Harlem, a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, to Jamaican immigrant parents Maud Arial (née McKoy) and Luther Theophilus Powell. He also has Scottish ancestry. Powell was raised in the South Bronx and attended Morris High School, a former public school in the Bronx, from which he graduated in 1954. While at school, he worked at a local baby furniture store where he picked up Yiddish from the shopkeepers and some of the customers. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in geology from the City College of New York in 1958 and was a self-admitted C average student. He was later able to earn a Master of Business Administration degree from the George Washington University in 1971, after his second tour in Vietnam.